Adjustable knife frame for bread-slicing machines



Dec. 3, 1935. WALMA 1 2,023,362

ADJUSTABLE KNIFE FRAME FOR BREAD SLICING MACHINES Filed June 11, 1934 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I /4 51 I j I A5 5 H 3 III 5 J 1 /Z 7' g 1 l E i +IP/0 gs 5 4 /5 A 23f. MMAMA INVENTOR.

A TTORNEY T. K. WALMA Bee. 3, 1935.

ADJUSTABLE KNIFE FRAME FOR BREAD SLICING MACHINES Filed June 11, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 llllllllllllllllll Illllllllll mm-p IN VEN TOR.

A TTORNEY Patented Dec. 3, 1935 ADJUSTABLE KNIFE FRAME FOB BREAD- SLICING MACHINES Theodore K. Walma, Iowa City, Iowa Application June 11, 1934, Serial No. 730,037

12 Claims.

The present invention relates to that type of machines known as bread-slicing machines and more particularly to means for adjusting the spacing of the blades without removing from I the machine the frames which carry the blades.

Amongthe objects of thisinven'tion are to provide means for ready adjustment of the spacing of the blades in a bread-slicing machine; to provide means for adjusting the spacing of the blades of a bread-slicing machine without removing the blade-carrying frames from the machine; to provide mechanism for simultaneously adjustv ing the spacing of all of the blades of a breadslicing machineyto provide means for easy ad- 18 justment, at both ends, of both sets of blades of a bread-slicing machine, the adjustment being made simultaneously for all of the blades; and such further objects, advantages and capabilities as will hereafter appear and as are inherent in the construction disclosed herein. My invention between the grooved rails and 6.

further resides in the combination,construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the ac-= companying drawings and, while I have shown therein what is now, considered the preferred Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevation of one side of a machine embodying my invention, one set of blades being omitted for the sake of clearness;

Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly broken away, of a machine embodying this invention;

F18. 4 is a both fragmentary. of 'ture shown in Figs.

Reference will now a modification of the struc- 1, 2 and 3.

be made in greater detail to the annexed drawings for a more complete description of this invention. In a structure of the character indicated, the blades or knives are generally carried in two groups by two frames spaced 8. short distance apart and supported in a frame comprising end pieces I and a top 2. Within the ends of the main blade-supporting frame are located guide rods 3 upon which the blade-carrying frames 4 are mounted and slidable'. These bladesupports comprise upper and lower rails and end members, secured together to form a rigid support. The upper and lower rails comprise a plurality of grooved parts 5 and 6, between which are mounted, slidably, the blocks 1. These blocks embodiment of this invention, I desire the same to plan view and Fig. 5 an elevation,

'l are shown in Fig. 2 as spaced apart a sufllcient distance to permit longitudinal movement Passing through the blocks I are shouldered pins or bolts 8 which have their heads cut away on one side to 5 permit the knives or blades 9 to be substantially inline with the axes of the pins. Projecting laterally from the face of each pin, where cut away,

is a pin or lug Ill which enters the hole formed in the end of a blade and by means of which 10 the blade is to besupported. The cutting edges of the blades are all directed toward the same side of the frame, that is, toward the side of, the frame through which the loaf of bread enters.

It is obvious from Fig. 1 that the blades or knives 9 are separated into two groups carried by the corresponding similar blade-supporting frames. It will be noted that the two knife or blade-supporting frames are faced in opposite di ections so as to bring the blades themselves in o alignment, thus enabling all of the blades to but simultaneously. The blades 9, as has been indicated, are supported by the pins 8 which pass through the blocks 1. These pins 8 also pass through the cross-levers H and serve as pivots about which'these levers turn. At their ends,

the levers are interconnected by the pivot means l2, thus forming a lazy-tongs arrangement by means of which the blocks 1 areinterconnected and caused to move longitudinally of the grooved 80 members 5 and 6. Since the pivots are all equally spaced, expansion or contraction of the lazytongs results ,in the spacing of the blades being maintained uniform throughout and at both ends, provided the upper and lower lazy-tongs are si- 85 multaneously actuated at the same rate.

Extension or contraction of the lazy-tongs is accomplished by means of the mechanism which will now be described. Posts l3 and H are fixed to the lower and upper ends, respectively, of the levers H, approximately midway of the length of the frames. These posts are connected to the levers by the respective pivot members I2, shown in Fig. 1 as being screwed into the irmer ends of the posts l3 and I4. threaded openings therein for the reception of sleeves l5 threaded correspondingly at their opposite end portions. This is shown clearly in Fig. 1. These sleeves I5 have angular shaped openings therethrough, preferably square, for the These posts have oppositely 4d 2 aoaasea This causes contraction or expansion of the lazytongs and spreading or bringing together of the blades or knives. If the pivot Joints are made sufficiently accurate, there'will be no noticeable 5 lag in the operation of the lazy-tongs. However,

if it is found that the joints wear so that the spacing ceases to be accurate, resilient means may beadded to draw or otherwise force the ends of the lazy-tongs toward each other so as to always take up any slack which there may be.

. This will result in keeping the blades uniformly spaced.

It will of course be understood that for a loaf of bread to be able to pass through the frame it will be necessary to get the rods l6 out of the way.

In order to accomplish this, the squared portion of the rods is made of uniform dimensions so that it may slide through thesleeve's I 5 to be completely removed therefrom. To the upper ends of the rods or shafts I6 are secured gears I1 and these mesh with a gear l8 carried by the key l9 which, as is clearly shown in Fig. 1, is more or less permanently mounted in the upper frame member 2. Clearly, this key must be rotatable in I the frame member 2 and be rigidly secured to gear l8 in order, when turned, to transmit rotary motion to the gears l1. When the blades 9 have been adjusted to the required spacing, the

gears l1 and connected rods ii are pulled out and laid aside until again needed for adjusting the blade spacing. It is obvious that the rod J6 must pass into both the upper and lower sleeves l5 when any adjustment is made, or else the blades will not be maintained in proper parallel-l ism. The pins or posts 8 may, if desired, be permanently secured in place but it is believed pref erable to have a screw extend into the hollow screw-threaded end of the post upon which the levers are mounted. These levers might be secured in place by having an end of posts 8 screwthreaded and having a nut threaded thereon.

Any of these or any equivalent mode of securing the levers in place on the posts 8 should be understood as being contemplated and should be regarded as coming within the scope of this invention.

In the structure shown in Figs. 4 and 5, posts, or the like, If rise from the gears l1 and pass through openings in the cross arm 20 through which the key 19a passes.

equivalent to that shown in these two figures may be used, the essential feature of this structure being that, by pulling upwardly on the key Ha, all'of the parts represented by solid lines in Fig. 5 can be lifted from place asa unit and laid aside until again needed. Then, when it is desired to readjust the blade spacing, this is picked up as a unit and the lower or free ends of the rods iii are inserted into the appropriate 60 openings in the top frame member 2 and the structure is lowered until the rods l6 enter both the upper and lower sets of sleeves l5 and the lower end of the key lBa enters the opening provided therefor in the upper plate 2. The parts 65 are then adjusted and ready for use and the blades may be adjusted by turning the key [9a. This construction is considered preferable to that shown in Fig. 1 since there is but a single unit to be handled and the three gears are always in mesh. There is no trouble hunting around to make these gears come into mesh as they are always in that condition.

In the structure shown in Fig. 5, the posts ris- ,ing from the gears I! may be regarded as having 7 angular portions passing through similarly Various structures.

shaped openings in the gears I! so as to furnish a positive drive between the gears and the shafts l6. Above the gears H are parts 22 which may be regarded as spacing washers, spacing the gears from the cross-head 20. On the upper 5 ends of the posts 2| are secured the means 23 whereby these posts and the gears I! are kept assembled with the cross-head 2B. These members 23 may be secured to the posts 2! by being pinned thereto, having screw-threaded connec- 10 tion therewith, or in any other suitable manner. The operation of this device isbelieved to be fully described in connection with the description of the structure andfurther description thereof is therefore omitted.

It will of course be understood that the specific.- description of structure set forth above may be departed from without departing from the spirit of this invention as set forth in this specification and the appended claims.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. Blade-adjusting means for a bread-slicing machine of the type having a plurality of substantially parallel blades arranged in groups, the blades of which alternate with each other, and 25 frames to support the respective groups, comprising units arranged in pairs for the respective blades, the pairs being arranged in and movable longitudinally of the said frames, and means connecting said units for simultaneous move- 3 ment longitudinally of the frames, there being in each frame an upper set of units and a lower set of units, the four sets of units being interconnected for substantially uniform and simultaneous movement to maintain substantially uni- 35 form spacing of the blades.

2. A structure as defined by claim 1 in which the blade-adjusting means comprises gearing interconnecting the units of the two frames so that they will operate simultaneously.

3. A structure as defined by claim 1 in which the interconnecting means for the units of the respective frames comprises lazy-tongs mechanisms and the interconnecting means for the lazy-tongs mechanisms of each frame comprises 45 a shaft.

4. In a bread-slicing machine, a pair of bladesupporting and actuating frames, each comprising pairs of upper and lower guiding rails, bladesupporting units mounted between and slidable 50 longitudinally of said pairs of rails, lazy-tongs connecting means for the units carried by the respective pairs of guiding rails to cause them to move relatively to each other and maintain a substantially uniform spacing, operating 55 means to cause the connecting means for the upper and lower sets of units to move simultaneously, and connecting means for the operating means of the respective frames to cause simultaneous operation of said operating means and 50 units, said last mentioned connecting means comprising a set of gears,

5. A structure as defined by claim 4 in which a pair of shafts connects the upper and lower lazy-tongs mechanisms of the two frames to 55 cause simultaneous and uniform movement of all of the blade-supporting units whereby to maintain uniform spacing of the blades.

6. A bread-slicing machine comprising a supporting frame and two blade frames, each com- 70 prising upper and lower frame members and other members connecting the upper and lower members and holding them spaced a certain distance apart, slidable units held by the upper frame members and by the lower frame members, blade-supporting means connected to the slidable units and projecting laterally therefrom to support cutting blades in alternated arrangement, alternate blades being carried ,by one frame and the other alternate blades being carried by the other frame, and gears located approximately centrally of the top of the supporting frame for causing simultaneous sliding of the said units so as to uniformly increase or decrease the distance between said units with any relative sliding thereof, the slidable units of one blade frame being interposed between those of the other blade frame.

7. In a bread-slicing machine of the type using independent, substantially parallel blades, a pair of blade-holding frames having upper and lower frame members, each of which comprises a pair of vertically spaced, substantially parallel rails, relatively movable blade-holding units between the rails of each pair and slidable longitudinal thereof, a lazy-tongs mechanism connecting the blade-holding units of each frame and adapted, when actuated, to maintain a substantially uniform spacing of said units, the blade-holding units of one frame being interposed between those of the other frame so as to alternate the blades of one frame with those of the other frame, and the blades being located entirely outside of both frames.

8. In a bread-slicing machine of the type having a plurality of substantially parallel slicing blades arranged in two inter-related groups, cutting simultaneously in substantially the' same plane, but in opposite directions, blade-supporting frames for the two-groups, each frame comprising upper and lower blade-holding units for each blade and guide rails between which the units are slidable, the units being adjustable longitudinally of their respective frames, simultane ousiy and uniformly.

9. In a bread-slicing machine of the type having a plurality of substantially parallel slicing blades arranged in two groups in which the the other.

10. A structure as defined by claim 9, said structure having means for adjusting the units, said means comprising gearing located approximately above the middle blades of the two groups and interconnecting all of said units to cause substantially simultaneous and uniform motion thereof.

11. In a bread-slicing machine, a pair of bladesupporting and actuating frames, each comprising pairs of vertically spaced guiding rails, bladesupporting units mountable between and slidable longitudinally of said pairs of rails, connecting means for said units to cause them to move relatively to each other and maintain a substantially uniform spacing, operating means to cause the connecting means for the upper and lower sets of units to move simultaneously, said operating means, during adjustment of the blade-supporting units, occupying positions normally within thepath traversed by loaves of 

